The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1887-07-16
Board of Trade and Cotton Exchange.


Within tho past few weeks the business
men of Monroe have been agitating the
| more perfect organization of the Board OF
Trade and the organization, also, OF a Cot
| ton Exchange, with view of extending,
with the opening of the fall trade, tho con-
merc;al interests Of Monroe. In this nove-
| tnent the business men of Monroe have the
| cordial az prevail and cooperation of the
Telegraph. 1t is unnecessary for us to tell
the sagacious merchants of this town the
Importance of concentrated action on their
| part i'll building up and extending our trade
| relations and that such action can only be
| had by organization and cooperation. The
kind of organization needed, too, is just
| what our merchants have in view. There
is no reason i'll tho world, in a city of the
size and importance of Monroe, why such
| organizations should not be had and kept
together. We have had Boards of Trade
| and Business Mems Associations but from
Il lack of unity and interest they have been
allowed to die out, yet the business man
can look back and see that to them we are
indebted to whatever OF advancement we
! have made, commercially speaking. And
they have been of immense advantage in
other respects.
In unity there is strength" Confidence
is thereby inspired; for then it is not ''ev-
cry man for himself and devil take the
! hindmost," but the whole community is
pulling together for the common good and
every one shares alike the benefits that
accrue.
But as wo have stated, it is useless to
talk about a Board Of Trade. That ex-
pertinent has been tried and the beneficial
results speak for themselves.
a Cotton Exchange will DO new thing
to us and it is this feature of tho move
ment now on foot that we would discuss.
Our more prominent business men, of
course, are familiar with tho workings of
such All organization, but perhaps no
thought has been given to the necessities of
al Exchange here. One has been needed
for years past, for many reasons, but since
the building of our compress, the demand
has increased with the rapid increase of
our cotton trade. The compress has been
in operation only one season and in that
season our cotton trade about doubled
Our best business men are confident that
it will double again next fall. This fact
has brought numerous cotton buyers to
Monroe and there being no exchange hcre
they have, to certain extent, infringed
upon the rights OF the merchant. Without
referring to crop lots, their purchases have
not been confined to the merchant, but
they go upon the street and buy from Tom,
Dick and Harry, regardless Of whether Tom
has one or six Or fifty bales of the staple.
In many instances Tom owes his merchant
who furnished tho money and supplies to
produce that cotton and if Tom is not an
honest man the merchant whistles for his
pay. An exchange will guard against this
and afford protection to the merchant. 1t
would also correct another abuse which
has gone on in Monroe tor years. We
refer to the unseemly contest on the streets
between tho merchants over cotton brought
to town in wagons. We have been reliably
informed that this custom has kept many
planters on the west side of the river from
bringing their cotton to Monroe. We have
heretofore touched upon this chatham
street method" and if nothing more was
accomplished than it's abolishmcnt an En-
change would prove a veritablo blessing.
Let us haye the Exchange by all means.